But here’s the problem. When you don’t allow older folks to enroll in Medicare, they have one of 5 choices: 1. They will have to get their Medical insurance through their employer who will have to try and get private group insurance for his older workers, which will be an additional cost to businesses. 2. If they aren’t employed they will have to purchase private health insurance which is prohibitively expensive for most retirees — that is, much more expensive than Medicare. 3. They don’t have any medical insurance, which means they will die. 4. They will have to use state based Medicaid to pay for their health care. 5. For those folks left in Medicare premiums will rise if younger, healthier seniors are excluded from the program.

Georgeana Mimms was a researcher at the Social Policy Lab of the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California, Deputy Director of the Asociation Pro Personas Mayores and a Special Consultant to the Los Angeles County Area Agency on Aging.